Newsline

2009 NSCAA Team Ethics Winners Announced

Hilbert women’s soccer team joins sixty seven other teams

Release Date:

January 12, 2010

Contact:

The Office of Sports Information

(716) 649-7900 ext. 333

KANSAS CITY, KS. – Hilbert College’s women’s soccer team has earned the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Ethics Award for the eight consecutive year. Coach James Ruggiero’s teams have consistently displayed sportsmanship and fair play over the years and they again are being recognized for their integrity on the soccer field by earning the Silver Award. "I am extremely proud of the continued work our program does regarding our sporting play. We work extremely hard and while we play physical we are able to keep that within the confines of the sport." Each head coach will accept their team’s awards during the NSCAA national convention in mid-January.

Sixty-eight teams received either the Gold, Silver or Bronze version of the Team Ethics Award, which recognizes teams that exhibit fair play, sporting behavior and adherence to the Laws of the Game, as reflected by the number of yellow caution cards or red ejection cards they are shown by referees throughout the season.

Nine intercollegiate teams received the NSCAA's Gold Team Ethics Award for completing the entire 2009 season without receiving either a yellow or red card. A total of 45 teams claimed the Silver Award, which is given to teams that accumulate no red cards and a maximum of five yellow cards. The Bronze Award went to 14 teams, which is presented to teams that receive no reds and a maximum of 10 yellows.

Hilbert is one of only six teams at the Silver level who received only one yellow card during the fall season. "We've had four Gold Awards and now four Silver Awards over the past eight years and it's expected among the student-athletes to continue working ethically and in a sporting manner,” said Ruggiero. “We only had one yellow this season (for the second year in a row) and I believe for the third time."

Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.